Hail to Destructor and welcome to your First Forgotten Scroll interview.

Thanks for inviting Destructor to the Forgotten Scroll.  We have heard a lot of good things about your site.

Your return is a fact and is captured –among other facts- with the mighty full length Forever In Leather. First of all are you satisfied enough with the result of the album and would you change anything if you could?

We are very happy with the end result of "Forever In Leather". Destructor always put out the best songs we can write but believe we can always do something a little better.  This is what helps keep us going.  We only had a couple of extra songs leftover from the writing process.  One of them, ‘We Are Ready’, was released from a demo recording on the ‘Storm Of Steel’ EP.  Another song was called ‘Restore Chaos’ that we plan on recording for the next release.  We rarely have songs we do not use after writing for a new album.

Which do you think are the strongest features of the new album? What is this key point that would make a Tthrash / Speed maniac to focus on your destructive music?

The strongest feature is the fact that there are no frills or fancy crap on this recording.  Just raw, straight to the point Heavy Metal. We pride ourselves on putting out something that isn't over produced or a false representation of what we are live.  This goes back to the writing process i was just talking about.  We do not write 30 songs when putting together an album.  When it comes to writing, we strive for quality over quantity.

What was that very specific fact that made you decide to pick up your weapons again and return to action?

The fans first and foremost, from around the world, who still want to hear new music from us. We have another chance to show what Destructor is all about and we are ready to kill!

After the reunion but before your full length release we had two other Destructor releases available. Sonic Bullet collection CD and Storm Of Steel EP. Can you be more specific about them introducing someone that still have not checked this stuff? What sort of stuff a Destructor Maniac will discover in there?

With ‘Sonic Bullet’, which was released in 2003, we showed we were back with some new songs and not just another reissue like so many other bands have done. it was important to include new material on that release.  The songs ‘Sonic Bullet’ and ‘Heavy Artillery’ turned out very good.  Many people have said ‘Sonic Bullet’ is their favorite Destructor song.  This made us all feel very good.  It gave us confidence and helped with the writing process.  we wanted to include some live tracks of ‘Maximum Destruction’-era songs to give fans a taste of what Destructor would continue to bring to the metal world, especially new ones who were maybe not as familiar with our past .

On ‘Storm Of Steel’, we wanted to release something to support our ‘Keep It True’ festival performance since the full-length album was not going to be ready in time.  Keep It True’s promoter Oli had named the opening night of the festival ‘Storm Of Steel’ so Bill came up with the idea of dedicating the EP to him and the festival.  We had 3 different versions of the title song along with a peak into the back then upcoming "Forever in Leather" album. One thing we never had a chance to do is release a live album so once again we gave to the fans some more rare live tracks along with an unreleased demo recording of ‘We Are Ready’, a song that was written for the ‘Forever In Leather’ sessions but not included on the final album.  We had a great time at the ‘Keep It True’ festival and were honored to be invited to perform.  The Festival has an excellent reputation of being of the best underground metal events in the world.

I also need to add just how great it is to work with bill peters and auburn records.  We have been together a very long time going back to when we first started.  Bill is like the fifth member of the band making everything quietly happen for us behind the scenes.  You won’t find a better label or person to work with.    Auburn released and produced these two EPs for us.   Don Depew, the guitar from Breaker (editors note: he means Breaker from Cleveland, Ohio, US), records and produces all of our music.  We really enjoy working with Don.  He understands our sound and puts a lot of time into making sure we sound as good as possible with the finished product.  We are not always the easiest band to record in the studio since so much of what Destructor is about comes across better on the live stage.

I still wonder what had happened to that “Decibel Causalities” unreleased full length?

The original ‘decibel causalities’ album recorded in 1987 with Dave Iannicca on bass was never finished.  We had done all the rhythm tracks and some of the vocals and guitar but never finished after Dave was murdered on january 1, 1988.  This was the album that was going to come out on bill’s new Auburn/Island records joint venture.  We did record another album we had planned to release tentatively called ‘Back In Bondage’ in the late 90s.  We have that ready to release but we have not done so yet because Destructor wanted to show we have plenty of new songs and were not going to rely on our past. That recording includes some of the songs of what our second album was originally to be but recorded thirteen years later.  we will release it at some point in time.

Here is a funny story dealing with one of the new songs on the album and  a destructor demo that was posted by fan on a forum:

“a few years ago i emailed Jamie Walters asking about a tape that I saw on a list, the "Tear Down The Heavens" demo. I got the tape and realized it was actually a really bad quality rip of "Smash Your Skulls With Power" and whoever ripped it didnt know the song titles. They thought the chorus of the first song "Bring Down...The Hammers!" was saying "Tear Down..The Heavens!", so they mislabeled it and distributed. Jamie later emailed me back saying that he wasn’t sure but it could be the "Smash Your Skulls" demo mislabeled, but by then I already knew. Then, a few years later they actually made a song called "Tear Down The Heavens.”

Because of that we decided to title a song "Tear Down The Heavens".  We thought that was a great title.  funny huh?

So can you give us more info about this “Smash Your Skulls With Power” demo when it was originally released?

It was first released in 1984. The “Smash Your Skulls…” demo was simply just a basement recording that we sent out to fans to turn them on to what we were all about. We had not been in a real recording studio yet. we never sold any copies. In fact every couple of months we would add some songs that were not on the first round and then sent it out again. The live songs were not on the first ones sent out for example.  We gave Bill from Auburn a version with fake blood smeared all over the cassette tray card.  haha…  We just wanted to have some fun and shock him a bit.  I think he thought the blood was real at first!

Are there any other demos or obscure releases by Destructor?

We were included on the   ‘Speed Kills-volume 2’ compilation on the Music For Nations label.  It features a different version of ‘Pounding Evil’ with an extended intro.  We also did some demo recordings at Breaker’s practice spot and recording studio around 1989 or so I think.  We never released it, although some copies leaked out in the 1990s.

How different is the band now comparing to the era before the split? Do you miss the days of your debut album? is there anything special to share with us form this era?

The 1980's were a special time because new underground Heavy Metal was being created that was going to change the face of metal forever. A lot of stuff nowadays is just redone styles but it came from the bands in the ‘golden era’. Destructor is really the same band as the we were back in the '80's but we are just older and more experienced. We refuse to change with the times. if we did that would be a sell out and we would not be true to ourselves.

What about Destructor on stage? I suppose your shows on Germany (Bang Your Head, KIT), Belgium, Canada, Chicago and Cleveland were full of Metal experiences, is there anything special to share with us?  

Every show is great for us. Some are better that others in terms of being in tune and on time but we always have fun along with the fans.  When we go on stage we play to kill. We give it our all because you never want to leave a bad impression on new fans.  Last year we met and played a number of shows with the exalted Piledriver and that was really cool because we all have become great friends.  The song ‘Skull Splitter’ from the new album was actually written about a personal experience of mine at the Bang Your Head festival in 2004.  I will spare you the details but let’s just say it was a memorable experience…haha…

Do you think that Destructor are building a stronger outfit on Europe or US? (with so many European fans and so many European live shows someone may ask this hehee).

We are much stronger in Europe than here in the states, although we do have solid fan base at home. We have some great fans in the US but America is so watered down in terms of real metal. True metal fans are spread out too far apart and it is hard to have any kind of impact in a specific market or region. I think all American metal fans would agree.

USA still got a lot of killer bands in real Steel but I suppose things n there are more difficult for metal compared to Europe.  Am I getting the point or not?

Sure, as I mentioned the popular newer metal in the US. is way too commercial and trendy. There are in fact some very good new underground bands coming out that hate the commercial shit and want to play some true heavy metal.

Are there any other Cleveland bands that you may want to propose to us?

Eternal legacy, Cellbound, Souless, M.S.O.D. and Lick The Blade, to mention a few, are all real good.   Of course, we must not forget the legendary Breaker as well who are all good friends of ours.  They will be reuniting with their original lead vocalist Jim Hamar to take you by storm!

Is the “Forever In Leather” simply an album title or a way of life?

Forever In Leather sums up what we are all about.  We are still the same and still in leather, spikes and chains!

Well that was it Dave. Close the interview adding anything i may have forgot to ask.

Thank you for taking time to do this interview Chris. I would also like to send thanks out to all of the true metal fans reading this worldwide who still believe in the real thing and who want molten thrash metal.  Keep the faith!